THE MANHATTAN PROJECT.........The Manhattan Project was a research project to make the first atomic bomb during WWI.

It was led by The United States with help from theUnited Kingdom and Canada. It began in 1939 but really started on September 17th, 1942. It grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost the United States about 2 billion dollars. From 1942 to 1946, the project was directed by Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army of Engineers. About 90% of the costs was for building factories and producing fissionable materials, which only left 10% for production and development of weapons. Research and production took place at over 30 sites across the United States,

Nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer, left, with Major General Leslie Groves, by the remains of the tower from which an atom test bomb was ignited.

some which were secret. In 1942 Enrico Fermi controlled the first nuclear reaction in he reactor called CP-1 (Chicago Pile 1). Weirdly enough, CP-1 was located at the University of Chicago under a squash court.

On September 17th, 1942, Col. Leslie Richard Groves took 'immediate and decisive' control of the Manhattan Project. He took rapid action, solving problems in 2 days, that had dragged on for months with the former leader. Groves was promoted to Brigadier General on September 23rd and on September 26th Groves had access to the highest emergency procurement priority that was around back then. Most of the scientist on the Manhattan Project hated Groves. They thought he was pushy, overbearing and a buffoon.